Fear and Torment
by DigiTails
Summary: Rei’s old village is destroyed and the villagers slaughtered. Mariah is the only that survives, for the moment. She runs for her life, and finds the love of her life. With his help, she hopes to survive this nightmare. Rei & Mao; WARNED: Gore, 1st PPOV
1. Death and Destruction

When This Story Takes Place This story takes place after the G Revolution saga, however, it never happened, and unless I say otherwise, those are the outfits the characters are wearing... Ages and height of the starring official characters 

These aren't actually official, this is what I say they are for my story. Tough luck if you don't like it.

Mariah- 17, 5' 4" 

Rei Kon- 17, 5' 5"

Kai Hiwatari- 17, 5' 6" 

Tyson Granger- 16, 5' 4"

Max Tate- 16½, 5' 6"

The OCs 

Dimetra Saizu- 7, 4' 10"

_**Just so you won't get confused later...**_

"blah blah blah"- people saying stuff out loud

'_blah blah blah_'- people thinking stuff

_blah blah blah_- flashbacks, dreams, lines from something running through minds

!-Blah blah blah-! Beginning and end to chapters, also major change in location

!- change of time, or minor change in location

Disclaimers- This is a show I own not. 

-!-!-Begin Chapter One-!-!-

_**Death and Destruction**_

_I looked down at the water running in front of me, the sounds of water crashing coming from nearby. I slammed the bucket I was holding into the river, breaking my reflection. I pulled the dripping bucket out of the cold running water. I placed it on the ground next to me and repeated the process with the second bucket. I placed both handles on the edge of the yoke and stood, soon hoisting the wooden device around my neck, I looked over, there was the rest of my team, everyone except Rei. _Rei_ just the thought of him made my heart beat fast._

"_Mariah, we're going back to the village now. You need to get some berries."_

_Lee walked over to me and place a basket in the hand hanging over the yoke. I glared at his, Gary's and Kevin's retreating backs. How in hell was I supposed to do that and carry these at the same time. Typical of them, leaving the real work to me. I walked down the path and sidetracked from it, going about picking the berries, setting my yoke down for later. When I got back to the path I hoisted the yoke around my shoulders and somehow carried the basket._

_Something didn't settle with me as I continued to walk down the path, no sound reached my ear, it was too quiet. I should have at least been able to hear the children playing. I continued to walk down the path, foreboding continuing to grow in my heart. I turned the last corner before I reached the village, at last I would be able to see what was wrong._

_The basket dropped from my hand, red fruits spilling around my feet. I knew what was wrong now. Everywhere around me laid the ruins of my village. The huts were crumpled messes of twigs and rope, bit and pieces of pottery seemed to be slashed and broken beyond repair. But nothing was as startling as the next thing I saw, bodies. They were strewn everywhere. Their cause of death was apparent, gaping claw marks across their chests, faces, and limbs. _

_As I continued to walk I came upon those of my team, the White Tigers. Lee was face first in the ground, blood spilling around him from his back. Lee's spine was visible, as was most of his ribs. I could see his un-beating heart and gashes in his lungs. His black hair was spread around him, cut off near his head, gruesome cuts could be seen on his scalp every now and then._

_Gary had been knocked over, I could see his blank eyes, blood poured from his mouth. His head was nearly severed from his body. His elbows were bent in unnatural ways. A gash ran from the corners of each mouth to his earlobes. _

_Kevin, little Kevin, his hair, no his scalp, was nearly peeling off his skull. I could see his cheek bones, his eyes stared up in the sky, a look of mixed horror on his face. Kevin had claw marks ringing around his neck._

_Tears loomed in my eyes. I walked on, not believing any of this. Fei and Jamie, Rei's mom and dad, were dead. Fei's black hair had been pulled out at odd points, blood spilling from the wounds. His arms had been broken, I could see the bone coming out of his skin._

_Jamie had her eyes closed, but I knew they would be as blank as her husband's. Her shirt had a rip mark across her breasts, blood spilling from the wound. She had two wounds on either side of her neck, she had bleed to death. Her legs were as bad as her husband's arm. _

_I felt like puking, there was so much blood, so gory, I had never been a fan of gory; and now I never would._

_I fell onto my knees, tears flowing from my eyes. I hugged myself, sobbing pitifully. The water from the buckets spilled around me, I barely registered their cold feeling._

_Padded feet came behind me. I stopped crying and turned around, my eyes widened. In front of me was a black cat, nearly as big as a panther. I could barely make out a bright orange stripe running down its spine to its tail tip. It had the scariest red glowing eyes I had ever seen. It reeked of blood, I could see some running from its spit that fell out of its mouth. It raised its paw, bloodied claws slipping into the sunlight. My eyes widened, this creature had been the cause of the villagers death, and soon to be of my own. I screamed._

-!-!-Different time-!-!-

My eyes snapped open, 'It had been a dream' I tried to reassure myself as I stared at the black ceiling above me. I froze was bloodied silver claws came slashing down at me. 'or not'. The paw managed to swipe several pink strands of hair off my head, but otherwise I seemed to be fine. I jumped off my bed, and onto the panther's back. I fell forwards onto the floor and shoved myself off it immediately; barely dodging another swift attack. One of my legs lashed out, striking it onto my bed. I ran over to my dresser and pocked my beyblade, Galux, and barely dodged the panther as it charged me. I landed heavily on its back, and then I jumped off it, grabbing my pink robe and put it on over my night gown and jumped sideways as the panther came towards me again. On the floor were my clothes.

I picked them up and jumped into my pink shoes as I ran out the door of my late hut. I heard it crash behind me. Fear pumped through my blood, I was sure I stunk of it too. I stopped running. The village was in shambles, everyone had the same wounds as in my dream. My breathing became shallower, I was sure I might suffocate. I barely was able to move my feet as my sharp neko-jin ears heard the beast creep up behind me.

As I ran through the thoroughly ruined village, something strange struck me. The only difference now was the fact that it was night instead of day.

I ran past my former teammates, I knew what they would look like, and I surely didn't want to look at their fallen bodies once again. All that was left was the errie silence of destruction that surrounded my assailant and me. Broken only by my footfalls and ragged breathing.

I ran out of the village and into the woods. I ran up a hill, suddenly my face hit the dirt, I had tripped. I heard a triumphant roar come from behind me. I was sure that this was the end. I waited for my final seconds to pass, but they didn't. I flopped around and saw that my death was prolonged. A tiger, a white tiger, had jumped into save me. It was battling it out with the great black beast.

"Child, run. I will hold this thing off."

I nodded and ran away, away from my village, my home, my past, my life. In a few minutes I came to the river. On the other side was safety, there wasn't a bridge in sight. I couldn't waste time looking for one. I jumped over it, I jumped farther than I ever had before. I landed and continued to run.

Slowly the sun started to rise, tears welled up in my eyes and fell down. I was sad and scared. Yet, I couldn't stop. I had to run, I had to survive, for the memories of my people. My legs started to ache, yet I couldn't stop, I was afraid that it would catch me if I did. Fear drove my aching legs to pound into the ground and back into the air repeatedly.

I hadn't eaten since the previous night, yet my fear overrode everything else, including my tiredness. I broke through the trees and was blinded by the sunlight. I rose the hand carrying my clothes and rubbed my gold eyes to see. I heard people shouting at me, cars, everything. Several on lookers tried to stop me, but they couldn't. Nothing could stop me, I was too scared to stop.

I ran into someone, pretty sure it was a wall considering it didn't move.

"Hn."

I recognized that, I looked up at the person from my position on the ground. It was Kai, I stared pleadingly into his eyes. If Kai was here, wouldn't Rei be nearby?

"Rei."

Kai stared coldly down at me and walked into a store. I felt crestfallen, he wasn't going to help me, or answer me. Fresh tears spilled over my face as I pushed myself off the concrete sidewalk. I brought my knees close to me and rested my head on them, staring forlornly at the ground. I heard people talk about me.

A pair of feet filled my sight, I recognized those shoes. I titled my head upwards, soon staring into Rei's gold eyes.

"Rei..." I felt too weak to even say that.

I saw Rei crouch down so he could look me in the eyes. He looked at me in concern.

"Mariah, what happened?"

Suddenly I was too weak for anything. I collapsed backwards, soon feeling a strong arm catch me. I closed my eyes as I was pulled forwards, my head soon rested on Rei's chest. I shivered and my tears redoubled in strength.

"Mariah, are you okay?"

Everything inside me felt weak, I couldn't answer even a simple yes or no question.

"What happened to your arms, Mariah? Mariah?"

"Rei, I think she should get some rest."

"Right."

I felt Rei pick me up in his arms and stand up.

"Kai, I'm bringing her back to the hotel. You coming?"

"No, you can handle this. Besides, I should see if Tyson and Max are in need of babysitting. Call my cell and a doctor if she gets worse."

"Heh, okay."

I continued crying into Rei's chest barely paying any heed to the conversation. Finally, I could heed my body's cries for rest. I was sure Rei would take care of me. I felt the noon sun beating against my back.

-!-!-End Chapter One-!-!-


	2. Waking Up To Love

Disclaimers- I have never owned beyblade. Beyblade is owned by Takao Aoki, or at least that was the name on the manga. However, I do own Dimetra and I will be very angry if you use her without my permission. This goes for the rest of the chapters in this story. 

-Begin Chapter Two-

_**Waking up to Love**_

I awoke, not knowing how much time had passed. Suddenly I was filled with pain leading in from my arms and calves, I tried to moved one of my arms, but it was to no avail, they had stiffened beyond my ability to move. I opened my eyes tentatively, afraid of what I might find, and found myself staring up at white. I moved my eyes sideways, white curtains blocked my sight.

I felt something warm against one of my hands. I lifted my head and looked to find the warmth's source. I felt a slow smile creep across my face, it was Rei. He had fallen asleep, his head resting on the bedside. Rei looked so cute like that. I rested my head against the fluffy white pillows.

I felt calmer now that I knew I was safe, yet something still pulled the back of my heart in a fretful way; I was still scared stiff of the panther as I wondered if it had followed me.

I heard the door creak open and heard sharp footfalls soon follow. I watched the edge of one of those accursed white curtains, and saw a nurse. Her bleached skirt reached her knees and a blouse collared her neck and white sleeves reached to her elbows.

She was carrying a tray, burdened with food. She set the tray down with a decisive plunk, and turned to face me. Her light blues eyes met mine, and she nodded, as if all was as if it should be.

The nurse walked over to Rei and tapped him on the shoulder. I saw Rei's head lift up.

"Hi?"

Rei sounded so sleepy, and I was silently annoyed that she hadn't let him sleep. The nurse nodded her head towards me and left without saying a word.

Rei turned his attention to me. He smiled upon finding me awake. Rei ruffled his hair, yawning, and continued to smile.

"Hey, Mariah."

I felt the fretful pulling at my heart stop and a warm feeling fill my chest. I soon found my voice and used it.

"Hey, Rei. Where am I?"

"The hospital. You were losing so much blood out of your arms and legs, I thought it would have been best for you to be here."

"They were cut?"

"Yeah, they were, made so pale that it worried me."

I sighed, I couldn't remember anything besides fear since that night.

"How long have I been asleep, Rei?"

"Unconscious more like, but two days either way."

Two days, I hoped that this was a good sign, maybe the panther had given up chasing me after all.

"Have you been here the whole time?"

"As long as the doctors would let me."

There was a few minutes pause in our conversation as I digested this new information. What did that mean? Could it mean he felt the same way about me? Or was he just worried as a friend? I couldn't tell.

"Mariah?" Rei sounded so tentative, so shy.

"Yes."

"What happened? I mean, its not everyday you run out of the village in your night gown crying your eyes out.

"Actually I do, Rei." I just couldn't resist a chance to be sarcastic.

"Very funny, Mariah. I'm being serious."

I sighed as the unwanted memories started to fill my mind. I felt hot tears form in my eyes.

"The village was attacked in the middle of the night. A...a panther I think did it. It had a bright orange stripe running down its spine to the tip of its tail, and it had glowing red eyes. I barely woke up in time to dodge a fatal attack. I suppose it had injured my arms and legs while I had been asleep. I ran into the village, it was devastated. There were bodies lying on the ground everywhere, no one had survived. Your parents, and the White Tigers, were among the dead."

"You saw them?"

"Yes. It was awful Rei, there was so much blood...and...that...panther was covered in blood." I felt the tears pour down my cheeks. "It was so bloody."

I felt Rei run his thumbs down my cheeks, drying my tears.

"It's okay Mariah. It won't hurt you now."

As much as I wanted to believe Rei, I just couldn't. Something told me that the panther was out to get me. I cried harder.

I felt Rei's thumbs pause around the corners of my mouth. As indecision flowed through those digits and into me, my tears stopped. I opened my eyes and stared up at Rei. What was he going to do?

I stared helplessly as Rei's face loomed nearer to my own. Our lips met softly for about five seconds before Rei broke away.

I stared into his eyes, they looked so ashamed.

"Rei..."

"Mariah, I've always loved you for as long as I can remember. That's why I left the White Tigers in the first place, I just couldn't stay around you and stay focused on my Blading."

I blinked, I knew he had never been a traitor. "I've heard absence makes the heart grow fonder, and its true for me."

"What do you mean, Mariah?"

"I..." this was going to be difficult for me to say, maybe more so than Rei, "I love you too, Rei."

Suddenly there was a sudden sharp knock at the door. I twisted my head so that I could see in that direction better.

"Come in."

A doctor came in followed by Tyson, Max, and Kai.

"Ah, Mariah, I see you're up. Good, good."

"How'd you know my name?"

"Mr. Kon told us. Since you're up I guess you'd like to know how long you're going to be here."

I figured I'd be told even if I didn't want to know. However, I did want to know how long I'd be stuck with all this white. "How long am I stuck here?"

"It depends on how long your wounds heal and how long it takes to walk."

I nodded to myself, that might be a while. "Okay."

The doctor left the room.

"Oh, food!"

I turned my head to look at Tyson. I blinked; he was heading for the tray of food the nurse had set on the floor a little while ago.

"Tyson, that's not for you, and I can't see how you're still hungry, you just ate before we came here."

"But I'm hungry."

I blinked, _that_ sounded like Tyson.

"And you wanted to stop at every candy store, Maxie."

I saw Rei look over to Kai and perk an eyebrow.

"That why you came, Kai?"

"Make sure they didn't stop at every food and candy store and make themselves broke? Yeah."

"Why did you care?"

"Because I'd most likely get stuck helping them out."

I smirked. Amusing, never thought that could describe Kai before.

-End Chapter Two-

pardon my language for a sec: DAMMIT! Writing the part where Rei and Mariah admitted they loved each was a literal pain for me to write... as you can see, I can't do romance stories, so why am I writing this again?


	3. Ice Cream and Death

-Begin Chapter Three!

_**Ice Cream and Death**_

I grinned as the sun shone on my face. I was finally out of that hospital. All the white in there was starting to drive me crazy.

"You seem happy, Mariah."

I looked over to Rei as he spoke to me. It was so good to be around him. "I am. The hospital was starting to make me go crazy."

Rei lightly planted a kiss on my cheek. "Its just good to see you so happy."

Finally we came to the hotel where the BladeBreakers were staying.

"It's on the 12th floor, Mariah."

We took the elevator up to the floor, my heavily bandaged legs were still to weak to take the stairs.

"Looks like she's finally out of the hospital."

"Hey, Tyson. Hey, Max."

"Guys, where's Kai?"

"He's been in his room for the past half hour, he won't let anyone in."

"Oh."

I looked around the hotel, Rei had said I was going to be able to stay here, yet I couldn't see an extra place for me to stay, the four bedrooms were already taken.

"Rei, where do I stay?"

"There's an extra room now."

We all looked to the closed door, or what had been closed a few minutes ago. Kai was standing in the now open doorway. The room behind him was neat and tidy, like no one had ever been in there. On Kai's shoulder was a black traveling bag.

"Kai...?"

"I got a letter in the mail today. Voltaire's going to be on trial some time next week, I need to be there as a witness. Mariah can stay in my old room, since I'm going to be in Russia."

I blinked, wait, what?

Kai walked over to Rei and handed him and envelope. "I hope I can trust you with this." With that we watched Kai leave the room, still a bit dumbfounded.

Tyson was the first to recover.

"Hey, Rei, what's in that?"

I walked over to Rei as he opened the envelope, I saw a lot of money in it and a letter. I took the letter from Rei's hand and read it aloud.

"Rei. In this envelope is enough money to last all of you guys a while, at least until I get back. Don't lose it."

It was very short and to the point.

"That's Kai alright."

Rei took the letter from my hands and put it back into the envelope. He folded that up and put it in his wallet.

-

Rei and I stood outside the movie theater, we had just had a dinner and now we were trying to pick out a movie to watch. Most of the posters involved a lot of blood and dead figures, I wasn't exactly in the mood to watch that type of stuff. Rei pointed out a poster to me.

"Hey look, that movie doesn't look bad."

It was called 'Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.'

We got tickets to see the movie and went into the theater. Around nine we got out of the theater and started to head back to the hotel.

On our way back I noticed an ice cream parlor. "Hey, Rei, can we please go there?" I was really in the mood for something sweet.

Rei nodded and we entered the parlor. We both got ice cream cones and got a table near the window. As we ate our ice cream, I felt Rei's hand enwrap mine. I looked at him and smiled then looked out the window.

Something in the trees caught my attention, a pair of glowing red eyes. I froze instantly, fearing the worst, then the disappeared into pure black, a thin stripe of brilliant orange flashed for only a second before the area became black again. Terror grasped my heart, no, that couldn't have been my imagination, could it?

"Mariah, something wrong?"

I was startled, I had almost forgot that Rei was there. "N...no. Nothing. I'm fine." I could tell he didn't believe me, but I just didn't feel like telling him what was bothering me at the moment. I finished off what was left of my cone. "Can we please go now? I...I'm tired."

Rei's eyes still looked concerned. "Okay."

We left the building. As we walked on, a feeling of fear sunk deeper inside me, I was paranoid, I felt we were being watched. At one moment, I had thought that I heard something snap in the woods behind us. I turned my head sharply to look at the woods, hoping to see something other than the darkness of night.

I felt something land on my shoulder. I spun around, and sighed, it was just Rei.

"Mariah, you've been acting jumpy since we had our ice cream, what's wrong?"

"Its..." I just wanted to get into the hotel. I continued to walk, Rei catching up and walked next to me. "Remember that panther I told you about?"

"Yeah. What about it?"

"I think...I think I might have seen it at the parlor."

Rei didn't say anything but he held my hand in a comforting gesture. "Don't worry, Mariah, it won't hurt you."

I nodded, wanting to believe him. We got to the hotel without much incident. I slept curled up next to Rei in his room, a bit scared to sleep by myself at the moment.

-Begin Dream Sequence-

_I looked around me there was nothing but black. I stepped on a branch, I was in a forest. I heard screams in the distance. I ran towards them, fear filling my heart. I broke into what looked like a city, but what lay on the roads in front of me could never be a city._

_There were bodies, strewn everywhere. Some had been completely decapitated, others had their torsos severed from their legs. Others had bleed to death. The stench of blood filled my nostrils as I continued to walk around._

_I heard a groan above me. There was a small child, on top of one of the lights. She was alive, but not for long, I could tell that much. I stood there, just looking at her. Blood had stained her thoroughly blonde hair. She stared hopelessly down at me, in pain. Her hands were gashed, her legs looked broken. And there was an enormous amount of blood spilling from her neck and chest._

_I hoped that her pain would end soon. A single drop of blood hit my nose and splattered onto my face as I saw the light ebb from her eyes, and watched the small child draw her last breath. _

_I slowly began to walk around the blonde's eyes still affecting me. I looked around, wondering if anyone was alive and well enough to be saved. Some people had been piled on top of each other. Others were on top of blue letter boxes, blood slowly dripping down the shiny metal surface. They were all dead though._

_I heard a growl behind me. I spun around, there it was, the panther. It dashed into the woods._

"_Mariah!"_

-End Dream Sequence-

I awoke with a start. I saw Rei's face, he looked so concerned and worried. His look softened, to a more gentle form of worry.

"Mariah, you were crying. Is something wrong?"

It...it was just a dream, that made me feel more relieved then I had been, but I was still scared. I sat up, trying to rid the nightmare from my thoughts.

"It was just a nightmare, Rei, it was nothing."

"What happened?"

"It was nothing."

"I don't believe you."

I nodded mentally, he was right, but he was concerned enough with my health, I didn't want to add to his worry. Rei placed a hand on my shoulder.

"It's okay, Mariah, you can tell me."

"It...it was night, I was in a forest. And there were these screams, I ran to find out what was wrong. I...I came into a city, and there were bodies lying everywhere, just like in the village, only it was more of a massacre this time. Some bodies had been cut in half and some others had been decapitated." I paused, Rei waited patiently for me to continue.

"And there was a girl, she...she was still alive, but barely. Her body had been tossed onto the lamp post. Her legs were broken, and her chest had been cut, I think from all the blood coming from it, and then there was that panther. It was standing in the middle of everything, then it ran into the woods."

Rei wrapped me in a hug, pulling me closer to him. I rested my head on his chest, I was still freaked from that dream, too much to even sleep.

-End Chapter Three-


	4. Dimetra

-Begin Chapter Four-

_**Dimetra**_

I woke up at noon, I had actually fallen asleep. I looked around, Rei wasn't there. Of course it was nearly noon, so I wasn't surprised. I got off the bed and put my pink sneakers on. I yawned and walked out of the room.

Rei was in the gathering area, stretched out on the couch. I walked over to him.

"Hey, Rei, can I sit?"

"Sure."

I sat down next to Rei and rested my head on his shoulder. Rei rested an arm around my waist. I looked up and kissed Rei gently. As I decided to move back, I felt that I couldn't maybe it was Rei's hands or maybe it was myself, I couldn't tell. (okay, for all you people that are interested, it's a two minute pash; if you have no idea what that is, too bad.)

In a few minutes my head was resting on Rei's shoulder again. I let out a sigh as the nightmare filled my vision.

"Hey, Mariah, you okay?"

"As fine as I can be."

Suddenly something about my dream struck me funny, there was the ice cream parlor in the background, I was kind of surprised that I hadn't noticed that before.

"Hey, Rei, can we please go check something out?"

"Sure, Mariah. What is it?"

"Just something I want to look at."

I didn't just want to see if my nightmare was a reality, I needed to.

We walked towards the ice cream parlor, but I veered into the forest, maybe I could find the panther before it struck.

"Mariah...?"

I walked into a clearing, then I heard screams. I mentally cursed, I was too late. I ran towards the screams, I heard Rei follow me, but I barely paid any attention to him. I ran out of the forest and into my nightmare. There were the bodies, exactly the same as before. I didn't waste anytime looking around and ran towards the light post where I knew the little girl would be.

I smiled to myself as I found her. She was still alive, and seemed a bit better then before. I heard Rei come up behind me.

"Mariah?"

"Rei, we need to get her to a hospital."

"Right."

Rei went over to the light post and jumped on top of it. He picked the girl up in his arms and jumped back down.

"She looks pretty bad, Mariah."

"I know, but hurry, please."

"Aren't you coming?"

"No, but just go."

I saw Rei toss me a confused glance as he left. I don't know why I felt I needed to stay here, but I did. Things were different already, and I wasn't about to let that beast get away this time, it had caused too much pain.

Then I heard it, a growl. I turned around and stared at it, there was the panther, and its eyes were glowing red, but it was more intense then the last time I had seen them, those eyes burned with a hate I could never even begin to describe. Then the panther turned tail and fled into the forest.

I was about to follow it when I heard something behind me. "Mariah, don't!"

I spun around again and there was Galux.

"Mariah, it would be foolhardy to try and follow it. You're still too weak."

"But..."

"I understand you want to stop it, but it'd kill you."

"It'd be better then this."

"What about Rei?"

I blinked, Galux was right, I didn't want to crush Rei's heart. Galux disappeared as I walked past her. I walked dejectedly towards the hospital. I looked around the lobby, Rei was sitting in one of the chairs. I sat next to him.

"Hey."

Rei looked up at me and smiled.

"How is she, Rei?"

"The doctors say she might live or she might not, she in O.R. right now."

I leaned against Rei's shoulder. "I hope she'll be okay."

We both fell asleep for a few hours, a doctor woke us up.

"Are you two responsible for the little girl that looked like she had been mauled."

"Yes."

"You two look too young to be her parents..."

"We're not. She was near death when we found her, we don't know where her parents are."

"Where did you find her?"

"In the city near the woods, in the middle of a lot of massacred bodies, her parents could be some of them."

"Oh."

"How is the girl?"

"She's recovering from op, but she should recover fully in a month or two."

"Cool. Can we see her?"

"Sure."

The doctor led us down the very white corridors for a very long time. We went up several set of stairs, a few elevators as I got tired, and into a secure part of the hospital. It was very silent in that area, only our footsteps could be heard over the quiet beeping of machines. Finally we came to a stop in front of a room. The sign on the door said we couldn't enter, but there was a large window and we could see the girl lying very still on a large bed.

I could barely make out her breathing under the covers and she looked almost as pale as the white sheets. I sighed in relief, she was alive. "I thought she couldn't be saved, she looked so badly injured."

"Actually, all that blood was show. None of her internal organs had been damaged, it was just a massive blood loss, if she had been brought in a few minutes later she would have bleed to death before we could have helped her."

I nodded, "Her legs looked kinda broken to me, but I'm not the doctor."

"One of her lower legs was broken, the other has a slight dent in it, but if too much pressure is put on the bone before it heals, it will break too."

"A dent?"

"Just a painful dent in her lower leg. Its not all that uncommon with children younger than her."

"Oh." As I had said, I wasn't a doctor. "When do you think she'll wake up?"

"Whenever she gets enough blood back into her system."

"You mean she needs a blood transfer?"

"Yes."

-Much, much later-

I stared out at the night sky and into the moon. Why, why did the panther follow me? Why did it torture me like this instead of killing me if it hated me so much?

I felt a pair of arms wrap around my waist.

"Not tired, Mariah?"

"No. I can't sleep."

"I can't either. There was a lot of blood."

"I know Rei, its just a bit disturbing."

"A bit? I think you mean a lot."

I turned around to face Rei. I lightly planted a kiss on his lips and then placed my head on his chest.

-Much, much later again-

"Yo, lovebirds, wake up!"

I blinked blearily and stared up at Tyson and Max. I took my head off Rei's shoulder, where I had fallen asleep. I looked around, I was still in front of the window. Rei was still asleep. I gently shook him awake.

"Huh, what time is it?" He sounded so tired, like he hadn't gotten any sleep at all.

"Its nearly nine you two."

"Oh." I blinked, when had we fallen asleep?

"Hey, Mariah, you got a call."

"From who?" I was confused.

"The hospital. They say you and Rei need to get over there once you woke up."

I nodded fearfully, had the girl taken a turn for the worse during the night? I stood up and started to exit the room, Rei caught up to me.

In a few minutes we had managed to reach the hospital. There was a doctor pacing back and forth. It was the same one who we had seen yesterday.

"Hey, doc."

"Ah, Rei, Mariah. Glad you came here so fast."

"What happened?"

"The girl woke up, but she won't talk to us."

"Oh."

"We were hoping maybe..."

"Its okay, doc, we'll talk to her."

The doctor led us to the same wing where we had gone yesterday, this time we were allowed to come into the room. The moment the doctor entered the room she looked pissed.

I smiled upon seeing the girl awake. "Heya, how are you?"

"Who are you?" She seemed thoroughly annoyed at us, and gave us a glare.

"My name's Mariah, and this is Rei." I held out my hand to the girl and gave her a warm smile.

The girl shook my hand, albeit reluctantly. "Dimetra Saizu."

Rei held his hand for the girl to shake but she just ignored him. "Hn." I couldn't help but notice Rei trying not to snicker at Dimetra, the girl heard it too. "What's so funny?"

"Sorry, its just that you sounded like Kai."

"Who's that?"

I smirked, deciding to explain Kai. "He's very cold and concentrated on his game. If anyone ever got him to say more then two sentences in his entire life, I'd be amazed."

To my surprise the girl smiled, "Sounds like someone I could get along with. Say, can you try and bring him along with you next time?"

"Sorry, but he just left for Russia a few days ago, something about his grandfather being on trial."

"Oh."

-End Chapter Four-


	5. Faked Innocence

-Begin Chapter Five!

_**Faked Innocence**_

I sighed and stared out the large hotel window. I was bored, Rei was out for a bit, doing only heaven-knows-what. It was such a nice day out. It was warm and the sun was shining in a clear blue sky, there was a slight warm breeze. My eyes searched the sky, looking for a cloud, there was none.

My wandering gaze traveled down to the woods. The treetops blew blissfully in the slight breeze. They looked so innocent from my view, blowing in the breeze so softly, but I knew different.

I nodded silently to myself and got of the sill I was perched on. I slipped my pink sneakers on and tied my hot pink jacket about my waist. I stopped by the small table in the room. Galux's blade glittered prettily in the light. The mountain cat seemed to be saying, "Take me with you". My hand reached out and picked up the blade and put Galux in my pocket.

I also pocketed my launcher before leaving the hotel. I walked out of the hotel, I needed some fresh air. The woods called temptingly to me, their soft breeze trying to seduce me into their dark depths.

As soon as I entered the woods, the air around me became thick and humid. Once I fully entered them, the trees seemed to press in around me, trapping me in their dark paths.

As I walked along the so-called path I felt I was being followed, but no sound reached my ear. On occasion, some birds would start into the air and startle me, but it was stifling, deafeningly quiet.

I stepped on a twig, the resulting crack made me wince, it was very loud to the silence of the woods. I heard a growl come from behind me, I turned, barely catching a glimpse of those piercing red eyes before they fled into the woods. It ran away, and I smirked before following, no way it was getting away twice.

I came into a clearing and spotted my target. It turned around to face me, the trees seemed to close in around us.

The both of us glared at each other, but as soon as my eyes came into contact with those paralyzing glowing red eyes, my breath caught in my throat. I wasn't scared, no, fear had left me completely, but those eyes stopped my movement in its tracks.

The panther gave out a feral growl, as if it was asking me what the hell I was doing here. Then it came right at me, by the time I gained movement of my body it was too late. The claws on its paw were sheathed, but that didn't stop the blow from being very painful. I was thrown into a tree, battered but still alive. I stood up and managed to jump up and dodge its next charge.

I landed right behind it, but it did something I wasn't planning. Its thick orange and black tail lashed out at me. It whipped my legs right out from under me, and I fell into the dirt. I felt sharp pain come from my legs and smelled blood, it had to be my own. Dammit.

A still sheathed paw struck my side, once again I was thrown. I moaned as my back was slammed into a tree for the second time today, already I was regretting having come out here, but it was too late now.

"_You know, very few actually come looking for me. For such impudence, you should die._"

I looked around the clearing, looking for the speaker, but we were alone. Wait, that would mean the panther was speaking. "You talk?"

"_Yes._"

I felt my eyes widen as the panther came charging towards me. Weakly, I managed to dodge the attack by flinging myself sideways.

'_Mariah, let me out!'_

Galux's voice shot through my head. A feral grin crossed my face. Red energy swirled around my arm. I lifted it off the ground limply. The energy blasted into the air of the base of my palm and slowly formed into the shape that belonged to a certain bit beast.

Galux's mighty growl could be heard. "_NEZZ! What are you doing?_"

I blinked who was Nezz? The panther's response answered my question. "_Its not your place to ask me that!_"

"_Yes it is, you're injuring my friend, so don't give me that high and mighty junk._" I was scared by Galux's voice. Sure she had been angry at me once in a while, but it was always a teasing angry, right now she sounded plain scary. Her voice was in a neutral pitch, but the underlying tones sounded a mix of pissed, annoyed, and well, murderous.

With that statement the two started to fight. They seemed to match each other blow for blow, but Nezz started to over power Galux. I was frightened, if Galux couldn't stand up to the panther, then who could?

I could only watched as their battle progressed and Galux got weaker littler by littler. My best friend since I was little was thrown into a tree in the same fashion I was.

"_Mariah, I'm sorry I couldn't help you more._"

With that Galux faded back into red energy that hit my hand and swirled down my arm and back into my pocket where her blade was.

I stood up, my anger seemed to be reflected in my eyes. Nezz's glowing red eyes caught mine again, making me freeze up again, this time with the smallest amount of fear. The panther charged at me again.

Once more I gained control of my limbs too late to dodge the swift blow. Once again, I was thrown against a tree. I heard my back crack, and I moaned in pain, again.

I was in too much pain to move and dodge the next set of blows. The whole time, I vaguely wondered if this was how they all had died, slowly.

Then I noticed something, the panther wasn't even trying to kill me. It was just tormenting me, by prolonging my pain. For some reason, it didn't want me to die.

I felt hot tears fall down my cheeks. I tried to stop them, but they continued soundlessly and became stronger in their flow. I think the pain was starting affect me, that's why I usually cried, once in a while because I was sad.

I was thrown into another tree, if my leg didn't break with that, I'd be amazed.

Suddenly white fur filled my vision and I heard a familiar growl. I looked up to see a large white tiger with distinct green stripes instead of black and a gold tail.

"Drigger..."

"_Nezz, go away, now!_"

I watched the black panther slink back into the woods with one last remark.

"_Even though you deserve to die, foolish child, I have other purposes for you._"

I blinked, I knew that had been directed towards me, but I didn't understand, other purposes, what did that mean?

Drigger turned around to face me, I looked up at him from my position on the ground. I smiled my thanks, too weak to say it.

"Mariah!"

I looked to the edge of the clearing where the familiar voice came from. There was Rei. I blinked groggily, I all wanted to do was sleep. "Rei...?"

Drigger faded into a ball of white and shot towards Rei, the ball of energy spiraling down his arm into his pocket. Rei was already by my side when that process had finished. "Mari, what happened to you? You're all bruised."

"The panther..."

Rei looked shocked. "Mariah, why'd you come into the forest? You know the panther is in here..."

"I didn't mean to...I took a walk for fresh air..."

Rei's expression softened. "Okay then, let's get you back to the hotel, I don't think you've got injuries that are too serious."

I nodded, Rei helped me up, but I felt my leg weaken beneath me, I started to collapse to the ground. Rei caught me one armed, my back was bent against his arm, which normally wouldn't have hurt, but it did know, I winced. "Are you okay?" His brows were knitted in deep concern.

"Not exactly...my back kinda hurts, so does my leg, but I don't think its anything too serious."

"Riiiight. Come on, I want your leg and back looked at."

"But its not that bad."

My medical bill must be on the thousands all ready, all the money Kai gave Rei would be wasted on the hospital.

Rei put me in a standing position and moved to my right side, where my injured leg was to support me. He wrapped his arm around my shoulder while I put mine around his waist, it would be difficult to walk with our arms around each other's shoulders.

The pair of walked out of the woods, gathering a few strange looks but I ignored them. I turned my head to look back at the trees, blowing and proclaiming a fake innocence.

Somehow I managed to limp the by now all too familiar hospital.

Rei let me rest on a chair while he signed me in.

After many many hours, my x-ray results came in. My leg wasn't broken, I knew that because it didn't feel like it, the bone was bruised, same with my back. I never knew it was even possible to do that.

The doctor's told me to rest a while.

I insisted upon seeing Dimetra before we left. She was doing better, and for some reason she was warming up to me, but being very cold to Rei. I'd have to come up here by myself once and ask about that.

-End Chapter Five-


	6. Annihilation at the amusement park

-Begin Chapter Six-

_**Annihilation at the amusement park**_

It had been about two months since I last saw Nezz. Still, I knew he was out there, waiting, for what I don't know, but I knew somehow he was out there.

The bruising on my back and leg had fully healed and I was making a daily trip to see Dimetra. She had finally started to warm up to Rei and would say whole sentences to him when she was in a good mood. When it was just me, she could chat more, but she was strangely quiet around Rei, I still had to figure out why.

The doctor said that Dimetra could come out of the hospital. There was still a lot of bandaging around her torso, but that should have been expected, I mean, it takes a bit for flesh to heal.

The three of us walked around town, and the surrounding area, the hotel was starting to get boring. I noticed when Dimetra stopped suddenly.

"Dimetra, what's wrong?"

"Look, Mariah, there's an amusement park in town."

The little blonde pointed to a sign on the telephone pole, it was true, there was a major mobile amusement park in the area. Dimetra turned to look at me and Rei with puppy dog eyes.

"Please, can we go?"

"I dunno...it might cost a lot."

"But Beybladers get in for a dollar. Please...?" Dimetra had by now found out that we did own blades and she had taken extreme interest in that fact. I looked up at the sign, at the bottom it did say we could get in for a dollar.

"I dunno, that still leaves you needing a full price ticket..."

"Didn't Mariah tell you? I've got a beyblade. Come on, please."

I snickered. Before Rei could comment I turned around to face him. "Come on Rei. Lets go."

Rei might have been able to stand up against Dimetra or me on our own, but not together. He raised his hands in utter defeat. "Okay, okay, you two win, lets go."

Dimetra walked over to us and started to walk ahead of us. I started to talk to Rei.

"Thanks, Rei. I've never seen her get so worked up about something, it must mean a lot to her."

Rei nodded. "Okay. I understand. Is that all the reason you wanted to go to the amusement park?"

"What other reason would there be? Besides the tunnel of love." I then playfully punched him in the shoulder and placed a kiss on his cheek. I noticed the faintest of blushes on his face before I turned to face forward again. I snickered inwardly, that was probably the reason he had finally given in.

I felt Rei's hand wrap around mine, and I held it tight there. I noticed Dimetra was waiting for us, she was leaning up against a light pole, arms crossed, her eyes were open and watching us carefully. "Are you two done being mushy yet? I've been waiting for two minutes."

Boy, for an eight-year-old, she had a major attitude. "Nope, but lets go anyways."

Dimetra rolled her eyes at us and started walking again. In a few minutes we managed to make it to the park, there was a huge line waiting to get in. I sighed it might be while, but it was still pretty early on in the day.

The line entered surprisingly quickly and soon it was our turn.

"Two adults and one child? Fifty dollars please."

"Excuse me sir, but the sign we saw said Beybladers got in for a dollar each...?"

"Oh, yes. Go over to that dish and prove it to the ref there."

The ticket seller waved his hand in the general direction of a BeyBlading dish. We all walked over there. There was a man in one of the park's uniforms sitting in a chair leaning against a tree.

"Sir?"

The man blinked and looked up at us. "Here for the Beyblader's discount?"

"Yes."

"Okay, just show me your blades and launch them." Funnily enough, the three of us had our blades on us. Dimetra had just gotten out of the hospital and we hadn't stopped at the hotel since she got out, so it wasn't weird for her to have a beyblade. Rei and I had been carrying ours around with us all the time, seeing as we might need our bit beasts.

We positioned ourselves so that we were at different areas of the dish. "3! 2! 1! Let It Rip!"

The three of us launched our blades, there was my pink one, Rei's white one and Dimetra's crystal blade. After a few moments the ref told us to take our blades out of the dish and charged us three dollars. He gave each one of us a yellow pass, that he said would let us in today and tomorrow we could come for free.

We followed a path leading form the area and came to a ticket check. We slipped our passes through a funny machine entering.

"Where to first?"

Both Rei and Dimetra looked over to me. I sighed, why did I have to decide? I noticed a Ferris Wheel in the middle of the park. "There."

The three of us walked over to it and got in line, when it was near our turn to board I noticed Dimetra sort of backed into me, she looked a little frightened. "I want to ride with Mariah."

"Something wrong?"

"No, I just want to ride with Mariah."

"Rei, is that okay with you?"

Rei looked kind of disappointed, but agreed. I sighed, I really needed to get to the bottom of Dimetra's behavior, but I can't read minds.

The both of us got onto the seat (is that its official name? I'm sure its something else.) and the ride started to go around.

"Say, Dimetra, why did you want to ride with me so badly?"

Dimetra looked down at the ground, which was nearly fifty feet below us. (yesh, this is a big Ferris Wheel) "Um, no real reason. I just wanted to ride with someone I knew." She quickly looked up at me, "Nothing against Rei though, he's cool...but..."

"But what?"

"Eh...it has something to do with my uncle. I don't want to say."

I nodded, I could pretty much guess though, if it would make her scared of guys. I had noticed she tried to stick close to me, and far away from all the guys as we walked along the streets.

When our ride was over, Dimetra got out of the seat-thingie and Rei sat down next to me. I wasn't sure if we were allowed to do this, but I rode around the wheel again with Rei.

-

The line for the tunnel of love was very long. Dimetra was off getting some ice cream, she said she would met us at the exit of the ride, and then we would all go back to the hotel after Rei and I rode this. Finally, the both of us were allowed onto the ride, Dimetra could have gotten twelve ice cream cones by now.

I sighed and laid my head on Rei's shoulder and wrapped my arm around his back. He rested his hand across my shoulders and we sat silently watching the scene of pink hearts go by. I felt Rei place a kiss on the top of my head about halfway through the ride and I looked up at him.

"Didn't you miss by a good foot?"

"Huh? What do you mean Mari?"

I snickered to myself and placed a soft and quick kiss on his lips. "That's what I meant."

I rested my head on his shoulder again and we went through the rest of the ride. I was almost relieved when the end of the ride came. I didn't mind being alone with Rei, but I was getting tired of all the hearts and the music was very stale. Besides, the many waterfalls lit by pink lights made me need to go to the bathroom badly.

Dimetra was waiting by the exit like she had said she would. "I thought you guys were never going to get out of there."

I smirked to myself. "The line was very long, ready to go?"

"I've been ready for the past five minutes."

Rei held my hand as we left the park, Dimetra was very close behind us. We continued in silence until we reached the hotel. We went up all the floors to the one our rooms were on and entered the suite (How is a word spelled "suite", but pronounced "sweet"?) Tyson and Max turned around to face us.

"Hey guys, what took you all so long?"

"Long rides at an amusement park."

"Oh, I see. Hey, who's the kid?"

"My, name's Dimetra. And I'm not a kid."

"Alright, fine. Where's she sleeping?"

I looked over at Max and spoke up. "My room."

Everyone looked at me, but given the expression on my face, they didn't question the statement. I don't think it would be much of a bother to Rei if I slept in his room after all.

-

-Begin Dream-

I looked around the amusement park we had gone to this morning. It was dark now, and it was a new moon as well, but I knew my night vision would slowly get used to this.

I gasped, everything was in ruins. Several of the rides had been destroyed. Most of them in useless piles of rubble. I felt sick to my stomach at what caught my eyes next; the bodies of everyone who had been at the park when this had happened, probably about three hundred or so. Most of them were caught in unnatural positions underneath the rubble.

_I felt like vomiting, this was really a death park instead of an amusement park now. I knew in the back of my head what had done this, Nezz. That black panther never seemed to give me any peace. I held back tears and bile as I walked around, looking at the carnage Nezz had created this time._

_Suddenly I heard the sounds of a child crying and I raced over to where I heard her sobs coming from. I stopped, and gasped again, it was Dimetra. I ran over to the girl and hugged her._

"_Mari-san?"_

-End Chapter Six-


	7. All's Well that Doesn't End Well

Right folks, this is the last chapter...enjoy!

!-Begin Chapter Seven-!

**All's well that doesn't end well**

I was woken up by Rei. His gold eyes boring into mine. Then I felt it, sticky sweat all over my body. There was a strange taste in my mouth, and my stomach felt weak. Rei placed the back of his hand on my forehead, until he did that and I felt a coolness of his flesh I hadn't realized that I was warm. I felt a strong flush on my cheeks.

"Rei?"

"You were moaning in your sleep again." He paused and bit his lip, showing a brilliant white fang that I could make out even in the dark, then he continued, "and convulsing."

I shook my head, trying to sound reassuring, "I'm not sick, if that's what you're thinking."

Before we could continue, there was a faint scream, coming from the room Dimetra was using. I ran to her room, and opened her door. Rei was following me, so I turned to face him. "Rei, stand outside for a bit longer."

Without waiting for a response from him or another word I quickly slammed the door shut behind myself and quietly locked it. I went over to the bed, where Dimetra was lying, shivering in her sleep. Gently I shook her shoulders to wake her. Her blue eyes quickly opened. Her eyes widened in terror before they rested on me.

"Mari-san?"

I smiled at the nickname she had given me. "Yes?"

"What happened?"

"You had a bad dream, you were screaming in your sleep."

Dimetra blinked and suddenly broke down in tears. "That's right," She began when she was able to, "it was awful, Mari-san," she broke into tears again, "all those people were dead, and you...you were there as well Mari-san, but you were alive."

I stared at her before holding her gently as I had learned how by babysitting in my old village. "It was in the amusement park, wasn't it?"

"What?" After a pause she answer my question, "yes it was Mari-san. How'd you know?"

"I had the same dream." I had a sudden insight for a moment when I realized both Dimetra and I were the only ones who had survived the panther's attacks, and so far, we were the only ones that knew of the attacks in advance. I knew, we would live like this until this conflict ended one way or another. Looking back I think I should have wondered why I knew of the attack on my home village earlier before I survived the attack.

I took her out of the bed and forced her shoes on her. "Dimetra, you me and Rei are going to the amusement park."

"But what about the bodies? What if its true? I don't want to see that, Mari-san."

I tousled her hair, "Its okay, come on. If we hurry there won't be any. There isn't anyone in the park yet." I knew what I was saying to be the truth. In the dreams, it was the opposite time of day in real life. It was still night, we had some time; the panther wouldn't strike just yet.

She believed the confidence coming from my words and nodded her head in agreement. When I opened the door I forced myself to have a more serious expression then how I felt, I was weak and frightened on the inside, but I didn't, couldn't, show it.

I felt Rei's hand's clamp on to my shoulders and he stared into my eyes.

"What's going on?"

"Rei, I don't know why, but that panther, Nezz, is forcing me and now Dimetra to picture his next attacks. And picking places I've been to. I...I need to go stop him. Dimetra's going to come with me."

Rei nodded, very slowly, "Alright, but I'm coming too."

I bent my head to look at the ground. "You can't."

"Why not?"

"I don't want you to get hurt. You aren't involved in this. Its my problem."

Rei moved one of his hands to lift my chin up, his face was stern. Something about his honey colored eyes froze me still until he had pressed his lips firmly against mine. I felt some other emotion besides the strong love he felt for me, but I couldn't discern what it was at the time. I wouldn't know until later that he had done that because he didn't want to loose me.

After nearly a minute, I wasn't quite sure how he could hold his breath for that long, he released me, "Mariah, I can't let you go by yourself." Something about his eyes, I just couldn't say no to him. I smiled and nodded at him and looked down at Dimetra.

"We're going now." She was not making any point of hiding her disgust at our openly showing affection. I smiled down at her and ruffled her hair. We walked quietly out of the apartment, although if Tyson and Max didn't wake from our discussion earlier, silence was irrelevant.

In less then an hour we reached the amusement park, night vision helping Rei and I immensely, although Dimetra had some trouble. I had to give her credit, she was being extremely strong willed for a seven year-old, I guess her crying like she had had been just a fluke.

I eventually spotted where the fence ended, and the forest began. I motioned for the others to follow me silently as I plunged into the forest. I heard Rei silently walking through the brush, as he had when we were children, but I nearly winced every time Dimetra broke a twig, maybe bringing her along hadn't been such a good idea after all, but I had a feeling pulling at the back of my mind that she needed to come with me.

I noticed large breaks in the woods we were in, and followed them, it would be easier and faster to move now. The three of us came to a clearing, it was still dark. I was sure no one had been harmed yet. Shivering I remembered his previous attacks, and the recent one that had been all over the news in China. People didn't seem to care about the White Tiger's village.

Suddenly I heard it out in the woods. "Dimetra, duck quickly!" I shouted at the girl, she did as I said and Nezz just whiffed her body by mere inches, she was safe for now.

The panther padded around silently, I was amazed I had heard him at all. He stared at me, trying to look me in the eyes, but I avoid direct eye contact, I knew from past experience it would result in instant paralysis. "Don't look at his eyes, you'll freeze." There was a roaring sort of laughter that came from the destructive animal in front of us, "What do you want with us?"

"When talking to me, you could at least look at me." The panther quickly shifted on his paws to lunge at me and I moved to dodge, doing so successfully considering I had control over my muscles.

There was a phoenix cry above us, I looked up to spotted the fiery red bird Dranzer. In a matter of moments Kai rushed through the woods, slate bangs seemingly glued to his face by sweat. He was panting hard, there were several bruises on him.

"Kai." Rei looked over at Kai.

"You were right, Rei. I just got back, Boris did experiment on that creature."

I looked wildly over at Rei, confusion clear on my features, what was Kai talking about? "Mariah, remember when we went to get our bit beasts in the village?"

"Yes, I do, why?"

"When I choose Drigger, I know the elders were surprised at my choice. I heard a few of them talking about how they had given so much for the perfect bit beast, and I didn't choose it like I was supposed to."

"That's correct. I was put through thousands of tortures for nothing." Somehow I got the feeling that this animal was lying. I think it was enjoying itself immensely, "Then again, now I'm free to use this power without the consent of anyone, and I can kill. I think I'll enjoy killing you all."

The animal went after Dimetra, I could tell by her petrified expression that she was scared stiff. It was fast, but I was faster. I ran over to her, and managed to pull her out of the path and dodge myself. I didn't have enough time to adjust my balance to the fact that I was holding her and I fell into a seated position. Nezz turned around and looked at me. My breath caught in my throat, my body was frozen, I couldn't move.

It charged at me, when it got close enough it jumped at me. I thought that was the end of it all, a flash of teeth, but as blood splattered on my face I realized it wasn't my blood. No, the creature of the night had bitten hard into an arm, Rei's arm. I stared at the back of Rei's head in shock and horror.

"Don't touch her!"

"Fine, then I'll just take care of you first." Its white teeth sunk further into Rei's arm and then he tossed my beloved into a tree. He chased after Rei, and repeated the process. With each toss I grew angrier at Nezz for treating Rei so.

"Mariah," I looked up at Kai, "I found out something when researching it. Light hurts it, nothing else" I just stared at him, how was that supposed to help?

Dimetra wriggled out of my arms and launched her crystal 'blade at it. "Obega! Sun's rays!" A surreal light shone from her blade, it was almost as bright as the sun. I saw a large phoenix made out of diamond gleaming just as brightly in the sky.

The attack landed on Nezz as he chased after Rei again. Nezz roared in pain as Dimetra's blade went flying into a tree and the bird disappeared. There was a hole in its chest. It faded into nothing, save for a few strands of black fur that burned away. I got to my feet and ran over to where Rei was resting.

"Rei!" 'Please be alive.'

!-

Well, sorry if the ending was abrupt, I just sorta lost interest in the thing. My apologies.


	8. Epilogue

Hah! Did you seriously think that I would leave you hanging like that? Though it was a good idea, I feel like it not. Actually my subconscious, though it just gave up, will not let me complete this story without the damned epilogue. If it weren't for that I might have left you guessing like that, I'm so evil.

Have a nice read.

!-Epilogue-!

My fingers rested on the keyboard as they stopped typing. I looked at the monitor's screen. It had been ten years since then. This event had haunted my dreams for the past week, so I had finally decided to write what had happened.

Kai had decided to take Dimetra in, probably because we later discovered that her uncle was Boris and she had no other living relatives, the moron had probably killed her parents. The courts had agreed to Kai becoming her guardian, probably because Boris had too many charges on his head for him to be allowed to take care of her. She was seventeen now, and every bit of a rebel that she had always been.

Tyson and Max, well mainly Tyson, had been annoyed when they found out Kai hadn't left for Voltaire's trial, there had been none. But this made sense, we couldn't find any news about it. The fact that Rei couldn't tell me what he thought had made me mad at him for all of a minute. I just can't stay angry at him.

As I sighed and saved the file the door opened and I heard footsteps. Instinctively, I knew who it was.

My beliefs were confirmed when I felt a pair of arms wrap around me from behind and a kiss was placed on my cheek.

"What's that?" Rei looked at the last words of the document. "Oh." He tensed up, recognizing it.

I turned my head to smile up at him, I placed a hand on his arm, using my foot to flick the power of the surge protector off. The screen turned black. I felt the scar on his arm from where Nezz had repeatedly bit into his arm to fling him around.

"Can I do something for you?"

"Hey, remember you're supposed to be going to the doctor's today?"

"Opps. Let me get dressed." Rei let go off me and I ran off into my bedroom, our bedroom actually. I got dressed in some of my favorite pink clothes. Rei said I looked best in them. Unfortunately, I was finding it harder to fit into them every passing day. This was probably because I was what, four months pregnant with our child by now. I smiled and rested a hand on my belly before going out the door.

"**Fear and Torment" Extra Comments by the Author**

Hey folks! Sorry that the Epilogue is so short, but it wouldn't fit in with the other chapters, but I had to get it in, so I could spare myself getting my head bitten off. I mean come on, for all points and purposes it seemed like Rei was dead, and seriously, I was all set to leave you hanging like that, however my subconscious had to get this in and make it a "happy" ending.

Now this is the point where I usually say stuff like, watch out for the sequel, or advertise other stories I have that have similar pairings. Sorry to disappoint those of you who liked this story, but this is it as far as my Rei and Mariah stories go.

I got inspired by reading a story where the village burned down, but it was left with Mariah crying, and I read the reviews. They said it would be better if it had been continued to let Mariah have an adventure. I never checked on the story again, but my mind had a seed for this story planted in it and it would not let me rest until I got the first chapter up.

I was originally going to leave it like its inspiration a one-shot, but my subconscious got me to put up all subsequent chapters up until seven. By that point the "seed" had grown into a fairly twisted tree, so I was left with a few inklings as to how the story was supposed to end. And yes, the epilogue was included, though I would have been more then happy to leave the story as it was, I was not allowed to leave any loose ends.

So basically, I'm not writing any more Rei Mariah stories as far as I'm concerned, mainly because I dislike the pairing. Yes I suppose its okay, nothing wrong with it really. But I'm more of a fan of Rei and Salima myself, and I think that Rei and Mariah are more like brother and sister. Probably why I lost complete interest in the continuation of this story. But, nothing against the pairing, I just am not a fan of it, though I see the reasoning behind it

However, I did enjoy writing all the gore into this, it just worked well. I hope this didn't seem to horrible to you reading this. Hope you all enjoyed it more then I like writing this! –For after the first chapter I wasn't found of this-

I hope you enjoyed my experimental pairing story! –for I wanted to see how well I could write a horror, suspense, romance combo-

This is Digi signing out -leaves-


End file.
